


An Apprentice's Mischief

by GlowyDruglord



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-14 16:45:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13594224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlowyDruglord/pseuds/GlowyDruglord
Summary: Young, Foolish, and standoffish.Clockwork was not the one for harsh words, especially not of one that he has decided to take under his wing. Of course, he did not appreciate the child's sense of humor and the way he behaved, but the Overseers requested that the Master of Time take a hold of the teaching of the Ghost know as Keeper of Trickery. Sketchy isn't it.Hesitance filled the older ghost's mind but he became a mentorWhether it was against or with his better judgement he has yet to decide.Especially when the child insists on letting out a very dangerous ghost captured with in a thermos





	1. Bell Toll

"What does a bell sound like?"

"Well that depends on what kind of bell you're looking to ring. Many bells have different voices and different lengths of tolls."

"Okay, what about a really giant bell? Like the one right above us!"

"It is not as big as it seems, but it's toll is a somber song that it hardly sings to you or I. It is like me, alone forever watching time as a parade going by with only little interference." 

"So does it actually ring?"

"Yes, the bell rings."

The dull pulsing glow a small swirling portal not to far from the two floating figures could have easily been seen through the window of the pile of bricks the Master of Time called his home. Of course he was at work. Never a break that he could take to really sit down and watch as time slowly went along like the Observers would. No. He had is own hands tied behind his back as he continued to correct and stabilize time. 

It would have been far easier if the child sitting next to him wasn't pawed off to him. Clockwork wasn't heartless; in fact, he found himself quite the opposite. He cared for others and wanted to give them second chances and help them correct themselves. But being distracted by a random ghost was not very pleasant. Babysitting was one thing; mentoring was another. A tight schedule held him on a very short leash and very little time to keep the boy out of trouble while he ensures timelines exist and don't exist. Saying he couldn't complain was an understatement, many times had he irritably suggested that the Observers take the child back to where they found him but no. His butt would be chewed off if he even so much as considered giving the kid back.

A low sigh escaped his lips as he turned his attention to the little child, who seemed occupied by a butterfly fluttering above his head and giggling happily. This would be much easier if he had someone to watch him while he did his job, but he still couldn't really break the rules. And besides, what ghost from any timeline would come to his aid to babysit? His first thought of course drifted to someone who was just as unlucky as the boy, Johnny 13. But mixing those two would no doubt end up in a catastrophe. 

He released a long sigh from his lungs that caused the organs to cramp a little as he reached down to pat the boy's head. It'll take some getting used to no doubt, but perhaps the boy will turn out just fine under his teaching and watchful eye.

"Clockwork?" a small voice interrupted his thoughts as he looked to the child. His curious yellow eyes seemed to glow as he blinked them a few times. 

"Yes, child?" He replied with a softer tone. 

He held the butterfly in his hands which fluttered about, trying to escape. "Do you know where my mommy and daddy are?"

The master of Time's hand clenched unconsciously, so tightly he could feel the bones trying to rip through his skin. The boy had parents? Well that was a detail the observers failed to tell him, a rather important detail to be exact. Well that is certainly is an issue. Clockwork was unaware that he had some sort of time line, yet he could not find it no matter how many times he searched for it. 

"No, I'm sorry."

A look of somberness fell upon the boy's face as he let the insect go, the creature flapping furiously to get out of range from the hands of either ghost. It seemed just as scare as the boy himself but honestly who could blame him? He was dumped on a ghost who was often too busy to really have a chance to pay attention or give affection to the young child. The Observers were as about as affectionate as a pile of crumbled bricks, so it was no wonder that he had to take care of him.

Clockwork gave him a few head pats. "Worry not, young one. Assure yourself that they are no doubt searching for you. But for now, you will stay with me."

A faint glimmer of hope sparked into his eyes. "Mathew."

"Pardon?"

"My name is Mathew."

"i see. Tell me, Mathew. Do you have an alias you go by?"

"A what?" He asked, looking up at him, confused.

"An alias. A different name of sorts. I've noticed many of the ghosts in the Ghost Zone come with many different names to Identify themselves with."

"Oh. Some mean ghosts a while ago called me the Pipsqueak."

"Well that certainly won't do." Clockwork drifted back a little and blinked, thinking. "You seem to act and look similar to a crow. So what about Crow?"

He paused from messing with his small boots and looked up. "I like it! It sounds cool!" He giggled and his golden eyes brightened up with a sort of happiness he had never seen within a child such as Crow. A small curve of his lips drifted upwards as the amused teacher turned his back to the child to observe the portal before him. Perhaps this won't be such a waste of his time. 

Crow seemed to have found his butterfly friend and gently grabbed a hold of its thin little body. "Lucy! My name is Crow now!" He bounced a little from his sitting position as the butterfly settled on his palm. It seemed that this butterfly had more importance to the boy, though he was acutely aware of that. 

"Now, Crow," the master of time chimed into the playful batter him and the butterfly was having together. "You can't tell everyone that I changed your name, okay? For right now this is our little secret. Okay?"

"Okay Mr. Clockwork!"

Not a waste of time. Perhaps a blessing to the old ghost.


	2. A Crow's Caw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy and Clockwork discuss the child as Clockwork is faced with feelings that no one wants.

"Clockwork, have a moment that I may speak to you?"

"Of course. I am not in the tragic need of interfering with any time lines at the moment. What is it that you need?"

The small creature that the boy seemed to comfortable around fluttered over to the Time Master's staff and landed gently on the top. Settling her wings, there was a swirl of dancing flickering flames that the male ghost stared at blankly as the creature used a form more human like form, crouched down but flowing barely an inch from his staff. At first glance it was difficult to tell what gender it was, but staring at it enough, you could see the mother like compassion for the boy who was still trying to keep himself on the ground. 

"It's about the boy," she muttered lowly, casing a glance back to see if he was listening. Crow grabbed his feet and tried to do a little backwards somersault but ended up knocking his head against one of the many turn gears in the ground. He hissed and rubbed his head furiously and kicking a little at the gear as if it was the object's fault. Clockwork moved to go see if the boy was okay, but the guardian reached out and tugged on his cowl in a way of saying he was fine. He blinked his red eyes and slowly backed down.

"What about the boy?" he inquired, turning his attention to the guardian who was playing with her own tail above his staff. As distracted as she seemed, she looked to him with her lower set of eyes and blinked. 

"I fear that under your guidance he will be worse than he is now," she muttered lowly, her claws clicking together a few times.

"What has made you draw that conclusion?"

She turned her head and gestured to the thermos sitting silently on a shelf he had made not to long ago. "That is why."

Clockwork had to bite back a small laugh and regain his demeanor. "Lucy, was it? I can obviously guide the child since the Observers dumped him on me. You have little faith, that ghost will never be out of that prison."

A small noise that sounded similar to a crow caw sounded high above the two as they looked up to find the child on a rafter, covering his mouth to stop his giggles.

Lucy wrinkled her nose at him and smiled, shifting in a plume of black flames and fluttered up to him, flapping her yellow wings and landed on his little head.

Crow giggled and gently picked up the small butterfly. "Did I scare you Lucy?"

As the two conversed above, Clockwork looked to the floating portal in front of him, his brows furrowing in worry. What if the guardian knew more than he did? But how? Lifting a hand up, he slid it past his hood and rubbed his head a little as an aching headache threatened to explode in his own skull. It wasn’t like he could really make sure it won’t happen, no matter how hard he looked, how desperately he searched for a little sign of the boy’s timeline; it remained beyond his sight.

The all too familiar feeling that weighed heavy in the pit of his stomach threatened to drag him down as he moved his hand from his head to his abdomen. Gripping his cloak a little in his own worry, Clockwork lowered his gaze from the portal and tightened his hold on his own staff. Even if the timeline was found, he still didn’t know Crow enough to tell his own future like that of the half ghost child. Chewing his lip out of his own nervousness and dread, thoughts raged in his mind.

Crow, had stopped his giggling and playing with Lucy and looked down at his friend in concern. He frowned out of confusion and then looked to Lucy who perched herself on the rafter above him. Despite being indifferent towards the time ghost, even she knew the stressors of dealing with a child such as the little one she watched over now. No time line, a warning dreadfully announced, and a ghost who feels like he losing his mind.

No good could come from this.

Clockwork floated down to the ground where his hand released his staff and it clattered, setting beside the ghost who fell to his own knees.

All these eons of managing time and preventing so many disasters from ever happening, the master of time was beginning to question whether he should rid himself of this burden, care taker of a boy who will no doubt bring destruction, or live with the fear that gnawed in the pit of his stomach.

Migraines pulsed hard in his own burning head as he regain his posture and sighed. "What am I going to do? Either way, I cannot interfere with a future that I cannot see."

Crow floated down and wrapped his little arms around the ghost's waist and burying his face into his cloak. "Mr. Clockwork, are you okay? Why are you sad?"

Swallowing emotions that he didn't want to deal with, Clockwork patted the boy's head. "I'm fine, Crow. I'm not sad. I'm just tired and stressed out."

Understatement. That's all it was.


	3. The Turning of Gears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crow's curiosity is growing, perhaps to a dangerous level as his new powers begin to spike uncontrollably

"Like this?" the boy's immature voice rang through the silence of his tower

"No no," came the Time master's irritated reply. "You're rushing again. You have to ascend quicker than that then phase through the wall. Try one more time. Ascend quicker."

An annoyed huff escaped the boy's lips as he slowly lowered himself to the ground and looked up at the ceiling, straining the muscles in his neck. Frowning a little at seeing the height, the small ghost hopped upwards and ascended relatively faster upwards, his body turning transparent and phased through the ceiling.

Clockwork let out a low grunting sigh, his thumb and index finger rubbing the sides of the bridge of his nose. Well of course he expected the boy to be more intelligent when it came to his training, but it may have been too early to do so. It was sometimes a miracle that the old ghost had this kind of patience to deal with Crow and his training. The boy often screwed around when he was supposed to be studying the history lessons the time ghost had personally selected from the time lines he viewed in his daily work. It wasn't helpful that the guardian that remained perched above on a metal rafter chimed in at times of the older ghost's frustration with comments that were meant to be nothing but irritating. 

No matter how much the master of time wanted to kick them out to some unknown part of the ghost zone, he did make a promise to the Observers; a promise he couldn't go back on. Venting a low sigh, he gripped tightly on his staff and looked up to the ceiling to see Crow poking his head out from above and making faces at him. Once the boy realized that Clockwork appeared far less than amused, he quickly ceased his action and floated down to the ground, crossing his arms across his chest. 

"And why did you think that it was appropriate to make faces at me?" The Time ghost asked, sternly.

"Because I thought you wouldn't be such a buzzkill," Crow grumbled, pouting a little. 

"I'm only a 'buzzkill' because you seem to think that this is all some sort of practical joke and I'm here to only humor you. I'm not some jester here for your entertainment, I'm here to teach you like I was asked to do. You seem to like making things far more difficult for me when I'm trying to teach you skills that may save you one day."

"Oh yeah, like learning about some ghost king that's locked up in a coffin with the key pretty much gone from the ghost zone. I never know when I might have to face something as terrifying as a box holding a dead person in it."

Clockwork tensed up at the boy's dismissive tone and furrowed his brows slightly. "Pariah Dark is a very dangerous being and you need to learn about it because it's an important piece of a timeline that involved many ghosts. You're far more intelligent than you give yourself credit for, and I want to see you use it like you're supposed to instead of horsing around all the time."

Crow's golden eyes darkened a little, it was a little spooky to the time ghost, a side of the child he hadn't experienced yet. The older ghost held the boy's gaze, staring him down easily. The child jerked his head away and refused to look at his mentor. However it soon occurred to him the object sitting on a dusty shelf not too far had captured the boy's attention and he seemed rather to focused on that then his own mentor. The master of time stiffened a little. He had been trying to keep away from the subject of Dan, but the boy would have found out about him eventually. 

"Clockwork, what's that?" Crow inquired. He looked to the older ghost with curiosity.

Honestly there was no point in lying to him, if he knew anything about the boy, it was that he was very persistent. Heaving a sigh that hurt his lungs, Clockwork turned to him and glanced to the thermos. "That is a ghost capturing thermos, created by the Fentons. Inside of that vessel holds a very dangerous ghost that must never be released."

"Why? What's so scary about him?"

"That ghost is dangerous, able to cast portals and more. You will stay away from it, do you hear me?"

"At least tell me his name," the kid grumbled.

The time ghost's grip tightened a little. "Dan."

Crow floated over to the shelf to see the capsule closer, rubbing his chin. "It's so tiny. Didn't you say Dan was super powerful? How can something so flimsy and small hold a ghost like that?"

"It's not as flimsy as you think. In fact, this technology is quite advanced for its time. Now leave it alone." He reached forward and firmly grasped the boy's bicep and drug him away from the shelf.

"That thing isn't going to stay protected forever, Clockwork," Lucy's voice came as a wave of irritation to him as the guardian shifted to lay on her other side.

"So far, all the comments that have come out of your mouth have been nothing but useless," he replied annoyed and ushered Crow off to his own studies.

Dire times were coming.


End file.
